The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1887-07-21
NORTH CAROLINA.
IMPROVING CONDITION OF THE
OLD NORTH STATE.
What the Stock Law has Done for our
Friends Across the Border.
[Richmond (va., } Southern Planter.1


Dear Colonel,-I wish very much that
you would pay us visit, and see what a
| beautiful country we have here in the Old
| North State. l would send you its picture,
/ but neither with brush nor pen could / ac-
cOmplish the work. Suffice it tosay, Inever
saw a country more beautiful before, and
mind, You | have travelled some in the Val
| ley of Virginia and have lived three years
| in the Valley of the Mississippi.
| "Ah," =" yOu say ''what can have happened
to Old Rip that she should have donned
| at this late day her holiday dress, and have
SO dccked herself with jewels as to make
| herself either comely or handsome? But
you must either be joking or crazy, or in
! your dotage, and don't know what you arc
| talking about
Well, | think | know some things
| know that when | came here. more than
two years ago, | thought that it was as poor
and unattractivc a country as | had ever
beheId; and you know | have seen some
rery J,oor in Virginia. For the last two
years the "stock law" or, as it is common
ly called, the 'no-fenee law" has been
in operation, and the whole face of the
country has been changed as if by magic
What were once large barren fields, their
very life trampled by the unfriendly hoof,
are now clothed with beautiful green vest
mentS, interSperSed with many pretty How
ers, affording ample pasturage, playground
and protection for the wild game. and AM
pie paSturaga, too, for the poor widows
cow" (that stereotyped argument in oppo-
sitiOn to the laW,) for she can have COW
tethered within sight of her cabin door,
where the COW can geta d better supply of
food III one hour than she could in whole
days rambling over denuded commons.
And the cowboy does not have to start out
early in the afternoon and listen for the
particular tinkle of his bell, and ofttimes,
unless he has an ear for music, to be mista-
ken and report couldn't find the cow
the consequence, children go SupperleSS to
bed. And when the tramping cow is found
when the ''coWs come hOme"-they bring
more ticks than milk. AS a rule, the cow
and the commons is working solely for the
benefit of the ticks, for they Withdraw as
much from her as she can obtain by graz
ing. But feel that L cOnnOt do this sub
Some other member of the Arp family.
We have no dilapidated fences; they have
all been removed, and thus many acres of
fertile land have been brought into culti-
vatiCn. In the uncultivated fields there is
every variety of grass occasionally turft
of clover, red, white and French, while
your little favorite the Lespedeza trifolio
is making herself at home and rejoicing in
her opportunity to spread herself.
The monarchs of the forest, the sturdy
oaks, have put on livery of fresh and
the bright prospects of the baby oaks at
their feet, they themselves had renewed
their juvenility. And then if you could
see the magnificent cultivated fields of
clover and orchard grass that we have here
in our midst, you would see that If the oaks
had not, the State had renewed youthful
vigor, and was looking upward with full
determination not to be eXcelled by any of
her sister States of the New South.
THE MORAL.
Let Virginia do likewise and abolish that
miserable system of building a thousand
dollar fence to protect the crop from the
depridations of fifty dollars worth of more
than half-famished cattle.
Henderson, n. G.
P S-IIaving made the great discovery
Gone of the greatest in the nineteenth cen
tury) that the country a1Itt bring grass,
some of our enterprising citizens have been
investing very largely in the improved
breeds of cattle, two or three carloads
having found a ready market here in the
last few months.
I'VE are much pleased to hear from our
old friend, DIR. Ilatchett. We turn our
mind back to the happy days of our boy
hood when, as scholars together, i'll the old
log school-house, We were getting knowl-
edge from Pixies Arithmetic and other ru-
dimentary books. Virginia never had
more devoted son in the days of his man
hood, and now his destiny has placed him
in our States nearest and dearest sister,
North Carolina. We have always had a
warm heart for the people of the Old North
State, and SO it is especially gratifying to
have his testimony III regard to his adopted
State. Would that Virginia would profit
l'y her generous and intelligent legislation
in respect to fence laws, we'll sustained de-
partments of agriculture and immigration,
and other matters for the encouragement
of her farming people. Oh those grasping
bOndhoiderS who have been SO long harass
ing our Commonwealth.
We hope some of the Planters subscrib-
ers in North Carolina will occasionally
send us some OF their agricultural prac-
tees